Septic Tank Maintenance

[LWG]

Keep some empty juice or tomato sauce cans under the sink. It's so easy and tempting to drain ground beef down the drain, but that's very harmful to your system. Use foil on baking dishes and let the grease cool and harden. Throw the foil away, or scrape the cooking utensils before washing. Use a sink strainer and throw away or compost everything it catches.

 

[mfreund]

The guy who pumps my septic system said to put a package of yeast down the toilet nearest the tank 4 times a year for insurance. When the seasons change I put a package of yeast down....cheap insurance.

 

[Mickey_Fx]

Haven't seen any bad info given here. We do give the tank a little dose, maybe a cup full, of RID-x every few months. Look at it as low cost insurance. There is a large variety of stuff going down the drain that needs to be addressed. As mentioned, lots of different kind of chemicals, grease and food mater find their way into the tank and TP is wood. Just to insure an adequate variety of bacteria and enzymes in an adequate qty, something like Rid-X helps if they are not thriving on their own.

 

[Pops15]

My parents neighbor was in the septic pumping business. He told me many systems don't need to be pumped nearly as often as the 2-3 years that is generally recommended.
Soil conditions, installation, type of system all play a part in how often you need to have a tank pumped but it often comes down to what you put down the drain. As others have posted garbage disposals, water softeners, drain cleaners, and types of soaps or detergents can all have an effect as well.

 

[Deere Dude]

Around here the county sends a letter every three years and pumping is mandatory or you get fined. It is a good idea anyway so I don't quack. But is irritating if the house is empty 6 months a year. There should be a turd-meter on the system that gives an alarm after a certain number.

 

[jinman]

I just had my aerobic septic system pumped on Wednesday of this week (after 11 years). Since it is four tanks (raw, aeration, filter/treatment, and sump - about 1500 gal) the cost was $300. This company usually charges $325, but they gave me a $25 discount because the driver and truck are actually based close to my house and they had such a short drive to get here. I called around 10 AM and they were here by 12:30 PM on the same day.

My aerobic inspector had told me that solids were starting to get into the filter area and sump. The clean water sump had maybe 6" of sludge in the bottom and the filter was starting to have a little brown sludge collect on it. The pumper truck was concerned about driving over the line between my sprinkler heads, so he stopped the truck and strung an extra hose section to the tanks. It was a very easy approach for the truck with no trees and firm ground. The guys on the truck said my system needed pumping, but it was very clean with absolutely no grease or other trash in my tanks. Actually, in the clean water sump, there was a cow insect ear tag that fell into the water. I tie tags just inside the tank access covers and it keeps fire ants away. Somehow the tag got loose and dropped into the tank. They sucked it up without a hitch. The guys went out of their way to backwash the tanks and get all the sludge. I gave them a fresh water hose with spray nozzle and they used that to help too. They were careful to keep sludge out of my yard and and not leave any stinky mess. I really appreciated the job they did, so I gave them each a $10 gratuity and thanked them for the great job.

I have a sign that I love to put in my bathrooms near the commode, but my wife won't let me put it up. The sign says, "Don't put anything into the toilet that you haven't eaten." That pretty much wraps up my theory of keeping a septic system healthy. I run my laundry water out as gray water and don't put that through the tanks. That helps keep the bacteria high and the soap sludge low. Of course, dish water also has soap, but it can't compare to boxes and boxes of powered detergent. We use our garbage disposal too, but mostly for meal residues washed off of plates and some vegetable trimmings. Most of our prep cuttings and peelings go into the trash can. If it's greasy, it gets wiped with a towel before going into the sink or dishwasher. We collect oils/grease from cooking in a can and put that also into the trash. Not using the toilet as a trash can is a big thing. Clean wipes/baby wipes are the kinds of things that wreak havoc on a septic system. I learned that the hard way when my aerator pump started making noise and popping the breaker. I found a Clorox wipe wrapped around its shaft making it off balance and drawing excess current. It only took one careless disposal to gum up the system.

 

[tungularafishcamp]

Jinman you are the first here to mention gray water. I had to hand dig to install my home built septic system almost 20 years ago that handles 1 to 15 people for 6-8 months a year. Only time it ever failed and I had to pump it was when we had company dumping a bunch of stuff down the toilet. I think the only reason it has worked so well for so long is toilet is the only thing that goes into it everything else goes in the grey water sump.

 

[Stimw]

No one has mentioned "female products"! Probably the worst thing for septic systems.

I had my 37 year old system pumped out and inspected last year. ($235.00)
I have owned and been using it for 13 years and it didn't really need to be pumped out but I put in a new Manufactured Home and it's part of the process.
It took the state inspector 3 weeks to approve my system. He could not find any reason to condem it. (he sure wanted to!)

 

[Pops15]

Around here the county sends a letter every three years and pumping is mandatory or you get fined. It is a good idea anyway so I don't quack. But is irritating if the house is empty 6 months a year. There should be a turd-meter on the system that gives an alarm after a certain number.

Do they require all septic systems to be pumped that often, or just aeration systems?
My conventional system hasn't been pumped in the 31 years I've been here. In fact only a handful of the 40 or so neighbors have had theirs pumped in that time.
I had a rental in an area with much different soil type that I had to have pumped every 3-5 years.

 

[RoyJackson]

Do they require all septic systems to be pumped that often, or just aeration systems?
My conventional system hasn't been pumped in the 31 years I've been here. In fact only a handful of the 40 or so neighbors have had theirs pumped in that time.
I had a rental in an area with much different soil type that I had to have pumped every 3-5 years.

As of 2013, our area will require tanks pumped out every 4 years. They'll also require the manhole have risers to bring access above grade. As far as why...good question.